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Eurostar suspends all Channel Tunnel trains

January 17, 2015

Trains travelling to and from Britain and France through the Channel Tunnel have been cancelled after smoke was detected from a fire in a truck being carried by train. Eurostar suspended services "until further notice."

https://p.dw.com/p/1EM4Z
A Eurostar train exiting a tunnel
Image: Denis Charlet/AFP/Getty Images

In a statement released on Saturday afternoon, the train service operator said: "If you were planning to travel today, we advise you to postpone your journey and not to come to the station."

Eurostar, which operates the services between London, Paris and Brussels, also confirmed the closure on Twitter, adding that all train services were returning to their original stations following smoke detection.

A Eurotunnel spokewoman told Reuters news agency that passengers were evacuated from a Calais-Dover shuttle train due to the smoke. No injuries ensued, however.

France has remained on high alert since Islamist militants killed 17 people in Paris over three days last week.

During the attacks on the French satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" and a Kosher supermarket, Britain also stepped up security at its ports, increasing the terror threat level to "severe."

Since the Channel Tunnel opened in May 1994, there have been three fires that have caused the tunnel to close, all of which were on heavy goods vehicle (HGV) shuttles.

ksb/gsw (Reuters, AP, AFP)